ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc., an integrated online advertising, marketing, data-analysis and management services platform, has appointed Zhongyi Liu as Chief Strategy Officer to head its blockchain strategy plan and related business development.

ChinaNet has been exploring the potential of blockchain for over a year and Liu has been advising the company for the past four months.

“Our engagement in blockchain is not impulsive, but rather a strategic decision to explore and trial blockchain applications with our CloudX platform,” stated Handong Cheng, CEO of ChinaNet. “We believe in blockchain and its ability to change the internet. Within a reasonable period of time, we plan to present our first application utilizing blockchain technology with an updated version our CloudX Ai. We believe once we complete all sectors of blockchain as we have designed, we will create a new era for business applications using blockchain and artificial intelligence for marketing and advertising, as well as multi-dimensional transaction services.”

Liu, the co-founder of bitcoin company FuDeSHu.com, became one of the earliest Internet entrepreneurs in China. In 1996, Liu built an Internet community called Student Global Village. In 1999, he founded SOHO Network Technology Co., Ltd. and published a book, “How to become a SOHO.” In 2001, he set up Email Post Net, the earliest O2O business model in China. Liu was also the one of the co-founders of TsingDa Education Corp.

In 2013, Liu entered the mobile Internet industry and innovated a personalized mobile network, known as Golden Banyan, an early version of FuDeShu with a technical concept similar to blockchain.

That company became FuDeShu, a blockchain service provider.

Liu will utilize his personal relationships and resources in the mobile Internet and blockchain fields, sharing his experience with FuDeShu’s mature blockchain service framework and product cycle to help ChinaNet integrate blockchain into its core intelligent system, CloudX. He will assist the company in building a global business blockchain ecosystem for SMEs around the world and help ChinaNet combine AI and blockchain for marketing and advertising applications and extend our services into transaction related areas.